2 days ago
High-flying QBD Books CEO's debut novel is ruthlessly savaged with one-star reviews over bizarre sex scene. But the BOOK SHOP chain he owns has awarded it a special honour
One of the most powerful figures in Australian book publishing has been accused of writing a debut novel so bad an amateur reviewer described it as '300 pages of slop'.
Nick Croydon is the CEO and co-owner of retail giant QBD Books and has penned a historical thriller called The Turing Protocol which was published by Affirm Press late last month.
The novel imagines celebrated World War II codebreaker Alan Turing inventing a time machine called Nautilus which can send messages back into the recent past.
Croydon's company QBD, which operates 91 stores across Australia and bills itself as the nation's number one online book seller, is promoting The Turing Protocol as its fiction title of the month.
More than half the readers whose ratings were posted on the popular Goodreads website by Friday afternoon gave The Turing Protocol one star out of five, amid a backlash against Croydon for depicting the famously gay Turing as having sex with a woman.
Some users suspected QBD employees were also bombarding the review site with positive comments, with the store acknowledging that staff 'shared their genuine views on the book - both complimentary and critical'.
Turing, who was played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the acclaimed 2014 film The Imitation Game, helped crack Nazi Germany 's Enigma code machine, which became a major turning point in the war.
The brilliant English mathematician and computing pioneer was notoriously prosecuted for homosexual acts in 1952 and underwent chemical castration instead of going to jail.
Two years later, in a state of despair Turing took his own life by cyanide poisoning, aged 41.
It was not until 2009 the British government finally made a formal apology for what then prime minister Gordon Brown described as the 'appalling' treatment Turing endured.
Queen Elizabeth II granted Turing a pardon in 2013 and the term 'Alan Turing law' now refers to UK legislation retroactively pardoning men convicted for acts of homosexuality.
Some of the critics of Croydon's book are aghast the author has both described Turing having sex with a woman and given him a secret son, while others simply say the writing is awful.
A prolific Australian author was flabbergasted by the change in Turing's circumstances, imagining if an African-American civil rights hero received the same treatment.
'What's next?' he asked Daily Mail. 'Perhaps The Rosa Parks Codex, except, you know, Rosa is CIA, hot and secretly white, as written by the CEO of Dymocks.'
Affirm Press, which is owned by Simon & Schuster, acquired the UK and Commonwealth rights to The Turing Project in a two-book deal with Croydon.
'In the midst of World War II, Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing has created a machine named Nautilus that can send a message back into the recent past,' a synopsis begins.
'After Turing uses it to help the Allied forces succeed on D-Day, he sees the power (and potential danger) of what he has created. He knows he can only entrust it to one person: Joan, the mother of his secret child.
'Over the next seventy years, the Nautilus is passed down through the Turing family, who all must decide for themselves when to use this powerful invention. Will it save the world - or destroy it?'
The cover carries blurbs by crime writers Dervla McTiernan - 'a fascinating alternative history with an intriguing "what if" at its core' - and Chris Hammer: 'Thought-provoking, The Time Machine meets The Da Vinci Code'.
Turing did have a close relationship with a female colleague - Joan Clarke, to whom he was briefly engaged in what is sometimes called a lavender marriage.
But many online reviewers believe Croydon went too far.
'The way this book portrays him genuinely makes me feel sick in the mouth,' one wrote.
As of Friday, there were 71 ratings on Goodreads, with 38 (53 per cent) of them one-star, 20 (28 per cent) five-star, and just 13 others between those extremes.
Most of the one-star ratings were from users who had reviewed multiple books, while all bar one of the five-star ratings were left by readers who had never previously posted on the site.
More than half the ratings for The Turing Protocol posted on Goodreads by Friday afternoon gave the book one star out of five
One reviewer who described herself as queer took exception to Croydon's graphic portrayal of Turing engaging in heterosexual sex, even in a work of historical fiction.
'Using real figures but keeping them at a distance to establish setting is one thing, writing how Alan Turing, a gay man, experiences having sex with a woman is something else entirely,' she wrote.
The one-star reviews are scathing, including a suggestion a better title for the book would be 'The Boring Protocol'.
'Honestly one of the worst things I've ever read, do not waste your time or money on it,' one man wrote.
'300 pages of slop,' wrote another. 'This is possibly one of the worst books I've ever read.'
The first five-star review on Goodreads described reading The Turing Protocol as 'like stepping into the mind of a creator who understands both the beauty and the burden of invention'.
'If you're looking for a holiday read that's smart, soulful, and deeply original - this is it,' one man wrote.
The next glowing review came from a reader who was hooked from page one.
He wrote: 'I was constantly checking what was real or not, and the twists kept me racing through the pages, but it was the tender family relationships that really struck me.'
Some of the five-star reviews addressed earlier criticism.
User Gayman3123 wrote: 'im gay and I enjoyed the book so much it was interesting during "that" part but I don't know why you guys hate because (it's) just fiction.'
One fan read Croydon's book in a night.
'The Turing Protocol is as good of a debut as we have seen in historical fiction this year, and I will be surprised if sales all around the world don't reflect this,' he wrote.
A young reader calling themselves 'Reader' gave the book five stars and said: 'Picked up this book for a recent long-haul flight and oh my goodness, I didn't put it down for a single moment!'
As of Friday, there were 71 ratings on Goodreads, with 38 (53 per cent) of them one-star, 20 (28 per cent) five-star, and just 13 others between those extremes
One even wrote: 'I watched the Book Launch and went to QBD Books the next day and was assisted by a very kind young man. Great shopping experience and great book.'
A spokeswoman for QBD Books said 'it's not unusual for friends, family, colleagues and peers to provide reviews of an author's work.
'QBD Books staff are a team of avid readers across the country who engage with literature passionately, some of whom have shared their genuine views on the book - both complimentary and critical.'
The spokeswoman said QBD chose its books of the month after 'a rigorous selection process that highlights debut or new authors who have written standout works'.
She also defended Croydon's portrayal of Turing's sexuality and his relationship with Clarke.
'Throughout the novel, Alan Turing's identity as a gay man is neither erased, questioned nor diminished,' she said.
'Both the narrative and author's intent are clear to critique Turing's treatment, chemical castration, and ultimately his death as a result of society's and the government's treatment of him due to his sexuality.
'Specifically, the Author's note at the end of the book reads, "The way he was treated by society and the authorities was a travesty".'
